Family’s wedding flowers blossom into Mendocino Coast farm business

Dahlias bloom during the U-Pick Day at Earthspoke Farms in Mendocino, Calif., on Sunday, Aug. 30, 2025. The farm hosts u-pick events through the end of September. (Mandela Linder via Bay City News)

MENDOCINO CO., 9/6/25 — Just a few seconds’ drive from Mendocino’s famous Point Cabrillo Lighthouse sit fields of dahlias exploding in color, young pumpkins on twisting green vines and a farmstand of bouquets for any passerby to purchase on a whim. Earthspoke Farms, which was just an empty field a few years ago, is the dream of the Deaton family, one of many families who moved to the Mendocino coast during the pandemic.

Back in 2021, Lydia Ashford, then Lydia Deaton, was getting ready to marry Corey Ashford. Her family, who had moved from Southern California to Mendocino the year before, decided to grow the flowers for her wedding at their house in Mendocino where the wedding was to be held.